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The Three Wonders

Joseph Campbell's beautiful description of
the myth of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara

Peace is
at the
heart of all because Avalokiteshvara-Kwannon, the mighty Bodhisattva,
Boundless Love, includes, regards, and dwells within (without
exception) every sentient being.

The perfection of the delicate wings of an insect, broken
in the passage of time, he regards--and he himself is both their
perfection and their disintegration.

The perennial agony of man, self-torturing, deluded,
tangled in the net of his own tenuous delirium, frustrated, yet having
within himself, undiscovered, absolutely unutilized, the secret of
release: this too he regards--and is.

Serene above man, the angels; below man, the demons and
unhappy dead: these all are drawn to the Bodhisattva by the rays of his
jewel hands, and they are he, as he is they.

The bounded, shackled centers of consciousness,
myriadfold, on every plane of existence (not only in this present
universe, limited by the Milky Way, but beyond, into the reaches of
space), galaxy beyond galaxy, world beyond world of universes, coming
into being out of the timeless pool of the void, bursting into life,
and like a bubble therewith vanishing: time and time again: lives by
the multitude: all suffering: each bounded in the tenuous, tight circle
of itself--lashing, killing, hating, and desiring peace beyond victory:
these all are the children, the mad figures of the transitory yet
inexhaustible, long world dream of the All-Regarding, whose essence is
the essence of Emptiness: “The Lord Looking Down in Pity.”

But the name [Avalokiteshvara] means also: “The Lord Who
is Seen Within.” We are all reflexes of the image of the Bodhisattva.
The sufferer within us is that divine being. We and that protecting
father are one.

This is the redeeming insight. That protecting father is
every man we meet. And so it must be known that, though this ignorant,
limited, self defending, suffering body may regard itself as threatened
by some other--the enemy--that one too is God…

New life, new birth, new knowledge of existence (so that
we live not in this physique only, but in all bodies, all physiques of
the world, as the Bodhisattva) was given us. This is the meaning of the
image of the bisexual god.

Joseph Campbell, The Hero with
a Thousand Faces, pp. 160-161

The
sculpture above of
Avalokiteshvara on a tiger throne was
done by Kip Dollar. It sits in Toby Johnson's meditation space.

Read more about the story of the
Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara on Toby Johnson's website:

It is said there are Three Wonders of the
Bodhisattva to meditate upon. The first is that the Bodhisattva is
simultaneously male and female, transcending the polarities, like the
Two-Spirit persons of Native-American (and pop gay) lore. Sometimes
Avalokiteshvara is portrayed icongraphically as male on the right side
of the body and female on the left.

The second wonder is that from the Bodhisattva's perspective there is
no distinction between life and release-from-life, between samsara and
Nirvana no ascertainable difference: time and eternity are one. In the
jargon of the New Age: “This is IT,” no difference between now and life
after-death, no distinction between the longing for God and the
experience of living life, no goal to achieve.

And the third wonder is that the first two are the same. Transcending
the polarities of male and female is a necessary step in achieving
enlightenment and a contribution to the evolution of consciousness.

Toby Johnson, PhDis
author of nine books: three non-fiction books that apply the wisdom of
his
teacher and "wise old man," Joseph Campbell to modern-day social and
religious problems, four gay genre novels that dramatize spiritual
issues at the heart of gay identity, and two books on gay men's
spiritualities and the mystical experience of homosexuality and editor
of a collection of "myths" of gay men's consciousness.

Johnson's book
GAY
SPIRITUALITY: The Role of Gay Identity in the Transformation of
Human Consciousness won a Lambda Literary Award in 2000.

His GAY
PERSPECTIVE: Things Our [Homo]sexuality Tells Us about the Nature
of God and the Universe was nominated for a Lammy in 2003. They
remain
in
print.

FINDING
YOUR OWN TRUE MYTH: What I Learned from Joseph Campbell: The Myth
of the Great Secret III tells the story of Johnson's learning the
real nature of religion and myth and discovering the spiritual
qualities of gay male consciousness.